


My Name So Sweet

by kk_arcanum



Category: The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller
Genre: Falling In Love, Happy Ending, Just two boys, M/M, Mutual Pining, a lot of similes and metaphors whoops, but anyway yeah let them be happy, he just loves him okay, let them be happy, patroclus waxing poetry about achilles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:28:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25149955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kk_arcanum/pseuds/kk_arcanum
Summary: (But Only After Leaving Your Lips)"Patroclus."I never truly cared about how people said my name, not until you did.
Relationships: Achilles/Patroclus (Song of Achilles)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 38





	My Name So Sweet

“Patroclus.”

My name; the one my father had given me, but never cared much for. Most rush through it, to get through it as quick as possible, saying the name in one breath. Some have grimaced afterwards, as if acknowledging the bitter aftertaste the word leaves. Others have just discarded my name altogether, summoning me with simple words. _Boy. You. Servant._

I had never minded before, I had always raised my head in acknowledgement for any and all terms. After all, I have always said my name the same way as anyone else’s, quick and rushed with the bitter taste of ash on my tongue. My mother was too simple to ever say my name either, but sometimes I wonder if she would say my name like Achilles.

Achilles.

Achilles, with a name uglier than mine, but made far prettier because it was he who bore that title. Because of heels that still flush pink despite the calluses, the grace and fluidity he retains in everything he does. Even when he fights, with cold indifference paling the sweetness in his eyes, there is beauty in those moments of calm ferocity. I lose myself in him and his elegance, his magnetism that draws everyone towards him, like when I was a young boy in his court. When he would draw all eyes to him without any attempt, and I would stubbornly try to pull my eyes away. He was patient, no attempt to ever rush me into any course of action, and so it wasn’t much time before I fell into orbit around him like everyone else did. I could never imagine that he had decided to fall into mine as well.

I never believed my name to be much of anything, it was a part of me, after all, but Achilles had never believed so. Even when we first met, he would draw my name out, as if he savored each and every syllable. Pa-tro-clus. How alluring my name sounded then, being pulled from his lips so sweet and saccharine. Pa-tro-clus. When he had first said it, I didn’t understand that it was my name; how could something from me ever sound so beautiful?

Achilles had helped me understand why; it was because he had fallen into orbit as well: around me. I still remember the way he had told me.

...  
 _The two of us lay among the field of hyacinths, the two of us smelling like those flowers we had crushed under our feet. You were speaking to me, but I could not understand what you were saying; I was far too distracted by the sweet arch of your Cupid’s bow and how Helios up in the sky had let loose a few sunbeams so your hair would turn gold. I was lost in your voice, the volume and its timbre soft enough I could both sleep to and stay awake to listen to, and it was then that you spoke to me directly._

_“Patroclus? What are you thinking of?” Pa-tro-clus. I thought of how you were the first person to ever speak my name as if it held value, and I told you as such. You were so puzzled with me, a little crease between your eyebrows that I wished to smooth over softly with a kiss._

_“Your name is yours, and that is why it is valuable,” you said this so simply to me, as if you had believed it all along. You looked at me afterwards, your gaze matching mine, and I understood that it was true, even before you had said anything more._

_“I will be the first hero who was both a hero and happy, Patroclus. You must swear it, because you are the reason. You will be the reason for it, so swear it to me.” Pa-tro-clus._  
...

You said my name so beautifully, and you said that it always tasted like sunshine. That day when I lay above you and leaned down to kiss you, when we were children and too young to brood over things like fate, I tasted happiness. And my name no longer left my mouth with the flavor of ash, for you were there to chase it away.

**Author's Note:**

> so!! this is my first work on ao3 so please be kind! id like to know what you think of it and thank you for reading!


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